Memories (Minor Repair)

“Wait, I remember now! Boli An!”

Halfway into lying down, Wang Ning shot up as if jolted from a deathbed. “My 10 yuan!”

‘We agreed I’d go get the information after school.’

‘How could I have forgotten!’

Wang Ning scrambled out of bed, not even putting her shoes on properly, and simply slipped on her slippers before pushing the door open and running.

“…Ningning, where are you going? It’s so late!”

“Something came up, I have to go out!”

There weren’t many people on the path anymore.

Wang Ning looked at the streetlights illuminating one by one and gradually slowed her pace.

‘She thought with hesitation, at this hour, Boli An probably wouldn’t be waiting anymore. Although I didn’t see her in the dorm, maybe she went for a stroll somewhere—falling asleep outside by accident seems pretty normal for her.’

‘The information can wait until tomorrow.’

Wang Ning glanced at her phone; Boli An hadn’t replied to her messages and wasn’t answering her calls.

‘Could something have really happened to her?’

The moonlight shone softly on the campus.

The fresh fragrance of gardenias drifted lightly in the air, refreshing the soul.

In the dim classroom, a frail figure was slumped over a desk.

The moonlight falling on her seemed to condense like frost.

Boli An’s head was pressed against her arms.

Her head was lowered, her breathing soft.

Memories, like surging black water, gradually submerged her remaining consciousness.

Countless indistinct figures overlapped, distorting her sense of time and space.

Drowsiness and intensified pain assaulted her body at once, her sluggish mind like a malfunctioning machine.

‘She thought listlessly, what’s the date today?’

‘The 15th.’

‘I don’t think I took my medicine.’

‘Then where am I? Darkness… am I in the confinement room?’

Boli An blinked wearily and slowly turned her head to the side.

The moonlight, as gentle as a sharp dagger, flayed her skin and flesh, bringing with it a pain she was all too used to.

‘My thoughts still exist, so it seems I’m still alive and well.’

The blue-haired girl’s one visible, emerald-green eye stared at the moon outside the window.

Her face, overexposed in the moonlight, was almost distorted.

Her upper eyelid drooped over most of her pupil as she slowly realized.

‘—This isn’t the confinement room, nor is it the house that locked her away.’

‘Even though she had survived the bloody culling of the bloodline selection, it had left her with endless after-effects—of course, compared to remaining under that family’s control, these sacrifices were nothing worth mentioning to her.’

‘Having escaped the name An Jiu Yorksonlos, the shackles that suffocated her seemed insignificant.’

[“You will return. You cannot escape this fate—it is the path every family head must walk. I know you will come back, Young Miss.” A sigh laced with pity fell upon her ear.]

[“Is that so?” It was a little girl with short, misty-blue hair. She looked at the person before her expressionlessly, her words seemingly laced with confusion. “But even without me, wouldn’t creating another substitute be a simple matter for you?”]

Beside her, other people were prostrated on the ground, their backs bent so low that one could faintly see them trembling in fear.

[“This is a curse.” An ancient voice echoed in her mind.]

[“It has chosen you.”]

The black water rose past her chest, slowly submerging her mouth and nose.

The intense sensation of drowning nearly blinded her, making it impossible to see the faces in her memories.

Thump, thump!

A series of hurried sounds came from outside, like a sharp blade piercing the surface of the water, pulling her into the oxygen.

The memory was abruptly cut off.

Boli An sat up, pressing a hand to her forehead.

Her heart was beating abnormally, and she could feel a faint dampness.

Her brain hastily filtered out the unnecessary information.

She lifted her head and glanced at the clock on the wall.

It was almost 10 o’clock.

‘It seems the person I’m waiting for won’t be coming today.’

She stood up, and suddenly, another sound came from the door.

First, it was a tentative knock, then the sound grew more urgent, mixed with a few low whispers, which then turned into violent pounding on the door, accompanied by an extremely loud shout.

“Boli An, are you in there? Are you okay?!”

“…Don’t tell me she’s still sleeping?”

Boli An steadied her breathing, overcome by the strange feeling of having been dug out of the earth.

The thought amused her—and she did indeed laugh, a faint curve appearing on her lips.

She didn’t answer, but simply walked over and opened the door.

Outside, Wang Ning’s hand was still raised mid-air.

She stared at the suddenly opened door and the sight of Boli An before her, failing to react for a moment as her eyes widened.

Boli An lowered her gaze to look at her.

The moonlight draped over Wang Ning like a misty veil.

Her loosened white hair was ruffled by the evening wind, and her sapphire-clear eyes reflected her figure, as if she were an elf walking alone towards Boli An.